Star Fox:Targets
by Killionaire
Summary: Star Fox has faced many impossible odds before, but never an adversary like this. Fox must capture a team of dangerous theives before they can wreak more havoc. He can't do this one alone. Fox/Krystal Falco/Katt. Warning: Vulgar Language and Sexual Themes
1. The Four Fugitives

The Great Fox sailed peacefully through the Lylat System. Its crew which consisted of 5 all seemed to be bored out of their skulls. Work had been very rare. They had even stopped running in to Star Wolf at all. Ever since the Aparoids diminished, the system had been rather quiet.

Fox Mcloud sat in the Captain's Chair, one hand propping his head up. He had not exactly become lazy. He used to train every second he wasn't working. It wasn't long before that stopped since he started stinking up the place. And he really didn't want to stink in front of Krystal. Although he was stubborn to admit it, Krystal seemed to flirt with him more and more. Saying he felt nothing for the blue vixen would be a downright lie, but saying he did would be signing up to be humiliated my Falco.

Speaking of Falco, he just got back from another 'little break' as he called it. This time he brought back that familiar little cat from a few years ago, Katt Monroe. They had always had an 'off and on' relationship due to cluttered schedules and business, so it surprised the hell out of Fox when she came strutting through door. Not like he himself could talk. He let his eyes roam over to Krystal, who was on a console. At least Falco has been gotten to 'on'. Krystal noticed him staring and smiled at him. Instead of hurriedly looking away Fox smiled back. It was always refreshing to see that smile. No matter how gloomy the day looked he could always count on that smile to lift his mood.

Suddenly, a ring blasted through the ship, signaling an incoming transmission. Fox snapped his eyes away from Krystal and to the hologram panel where a model of Peppy's head appeared.

"Greetings, Starfox!" the hare exclaimed.

"Peppy!" Krystal happily shouted happy to see the ex-mercenary.

"What's up old timer?" Fox casually greeted. Work had been scarce and the Conerian Military had little use for mercs.

"It's been awhile Fox! You guys find a fourth yet?" he asked. When Peppy left to be General of the Military, Slippy had become a full-time mechanic. He retired his Arwing, sometimes using its parts to fix the other Arwings. As if on cue Falco walked through the door with a mischievous Katt behind him.

"Yo, Fox! Who's on the tube?" he asked apparently curious about the ringing. "Peppy! Long time, no see old man!" he said.

"Likewise Falco," he responded with a smile. "Still getting into trouble I see," he said referring to the feline. Falco blushed a little.

"Hey, you got it all wrong! She's just here to get her ship repaired!"

"I see. So she's not apart of the team then?" Katt's ears perked up.

"I wouldn't mind being apart of the team, you guys are fixing my Cat's Paw v2 for free, anyway." Fox smiled.

"Well you're welcome to join, Ms. Monroe," Katt smiled and Falco sweatdropped.

"Thanks, and call me Katt. It feels weird being called Ms. Monroe."

"Of course," everyone smiled except Falco. He would have to talk to Fox privately later on. "Peppy, why'd you call? Do you have something for us?" he asked.

"Actually, yes Fox. There's been a disturbance on the small planet of Klerta. Klerta is located not far from Coneria's space station. If fact sometimes the station orbits the planet. The local military there beseeched us to find some thieves that took a large shipment of priceless jewels from a freighter about 72 hours ago." Peppy paused. "Apparently they took out a relay and raided the freighter from a dry-dock."

"Klerta huh? Nice place but their military doesn't mess around. It's not really smart to pick a fight with them unless you have numbers, or just ridiculous firepower." Falco inquired.

"Peppy, how many thieves were there?" Fox asked. Peppy looked grim.

"4," he answered. The Starfox team looked shocked.

"Star Wolf?" Krystal asked, worry written all over her face. She knew how much Fox liked a challenge, but their foe had to seriously be versatile to pull off a heist like that.

"Not this time. The StarWolf team are mercs like you. They probably wouldn't hesitate to pull a job like this but we confirmed they are not involved." Peppy paused looking away from them. He faced them once more. "I'm transmitting video captured from a camera in the relay they hit," he finished.

As promised, the video began screening. It depicted the insides of the base. The long corridors were crawling with guards. To them it was just another day at work, guarding the relay and chatting with colleagues. However, an explosion went off somewhere in the facility. The guards raised their alert status and got very defensive. They tried to contact the outside but failed. Apparently, that's when it hit them that the explosion took out their communications and left them in the dark. A camera captured laser shot, obviously from a blaster lighting up the dark hallways. That's when the first thief appeared. He was obviously in the avian species. The feathers on his head were white while the rest of his body was brown, although he had on an all black mercenary outfit. The bald eagle took out every guard in the corridor with a spectacular combination of firearm skills and had-to-hand combat. Fox couldn't believe his eyes as he would take out a group of guards, then disappear to ambush the next set. This man was no ordinary soldier. A look at his right arm showed that he had a robot prosthetic arm, just as bulky as his left. The arm showed he could do increased damage when he punched a rhino in his chest and sent him flying down the hall. Once the avian got to the main generator room, he was surrounded. Lights flashed on him and the officers demanded he put his hands up. He seemed to be talking to himself, as he put his hands up with something in his left hand. The guards warned him to drop it or they would shoot to kill. The device was found out to be a detonator, because once he pressed a green button, multiple explosions went of behind him. Suddenly smoke enveloped the room.

"Don't let him get away! Fire!" a burly voice commanded. By now the room was to foggy to see anything but the laser rounds shooting a the last known spot of the intruder. It seemed he had an accomplice taking out the guards in the smokescreen. Punches could be heard landing, before the captain himself was knocked out. The smoke settled in the room to reveal all the guards completely incapacitated. The heavy bird still stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed.

"Nice work, Raven." He said in a husky voice. Another silhouette came into view from jumping down from the high ceiling and landing behind him.

"I aim to please," she said with a flirty tone. Yet another avian, this one was all black with a smaller frame than her leader. She walked towards him, swaying her hips while she walked.

"How long?" he asked, his voice still serious.

"Don't worry, sexy," she said pinching his ass when she passed him causing the bigger avian to raise an eyebrow. "I'll have these generators in the ground before you know it," she said smirking back at him. The white haired avian talked into his communicator once more.

"Eagle, to Samu. Standby for evac, Raven's gonna take the generators and we'll be on our way to the freighter." He stated.

"_Copy that, Eagle standing by for evac. Doc's gonna proceed ahead to the freighter once he gets the signal, over."_ The female voice echoed out of his communicator.

"Copy that," Eagle said as he turned his attention back to Raven. "Done yet? Let's go. It won't be long before they notice something's up." He said.

"Always so impatient," she said typing on a monitor. Everything on the screen went red, signaling her success. "A girl likes a man who can take his time, ya know," she said suggestively. Before placing a charge on the console. Eagle pulled an adhesive grenade out of a bag and threw it at the ceiling. It detonated leaving a large hole, which a rope dropped through. Eagle grabbed her waist as he grabbed the rope. "Ooh," she laughed. "But we love a man who can take charge even more." She said seductively, as the rope lifted them both out of the facility. The charge Raven placed on the console detonated taking out the generators and also the cameras.

The video ended and there was an eerie silence in the room.

"Two people did all that damage. That quick," Falco said stunned.

"Not just two people," corrected Peppy. "They rendezvous with another suspect and all four of them raided the freighter together."

"From what I've seen so far, it's safe to say they're working for someone. Any idea who?" Fox asked. Peppy shook his head.

"None. We heard their names and ran checks on them and found some info on the two birds. Apparently their both ex-corneria military. They specialized in recon stealth. One year ago when the Aparoids attacked, the Conerian Cruiser they were on crashed on Fortuna, the entire crew died but two bodies were unaccounted for. An Eagle Smith and Raven Sanchez," Peppy paused. "Fox these are our own people. They went M.I.A when the ship crashed and no doubt the arm on Eagle was a little present from the Aparoids."

"So if these are ex-conerian ops, why send us? I thought you took this kinda thing personally," Falco offhandedly asked.

"It's obvious the Klerta Military knew they were our operatives. They don't trust us, so I'm sending you." He said like it was common knowledge.

"What about the other two? We heard their names, Doc and Samu. Any intel on them?" Katt asked which surprised the other members.

"We believe that they're ex-cons from a Fortuna prison, but not much more than that." There was a long pause in the bridge.

"What's our mission?" Fox asked. A smile graced Falco's face; he knew he was going to say that.

"To hunt down and apprehend these criminals. As a side objective find out who they're working for. But don't overdo it. We can find out ourselves when we have them. Their status has been raised to A-rank. So be careful," Peppy finished.

"Aren't I always?" Fox joked. Peppy smiled at him.

"Good luck, Peppy out," he said as the transmission ended.

Fox looked at his teammates along with the new recruit, Katt Monroe. Krystal gave him a reassuring smile, Falco gave him a cocky grin, while Katt gave a confident smile.

"Alright Team! You heard the hare, not much is known about those thieves so I want everybody to stay in groups of twos at all times. Do not split up unless absolutely necessary. R.O.B! How long will it take to get to the Klerta base?" he asked. The robot hummed and beeped.

"About three days," it replied in a robotic voice.

"Rest up, when we get there stay frosty." He finished.

"But Fox, what are the teams?" Krystal asked. Fox thought about it.

"Falco has the most experience alongside Katt so they'll be Team 2. Krystal, you're with me. We'll be Team 1." He explained.

"Didn't see that coming," Falco sarcastically remarked, only to be elbowed by Katt.

"Guess we get some alone time again, huh Fox?" Krystal said with a sly smirk. Fox blushed.

"Y-Yeah, I g-guess so," he replied nervously. Falco snickered at his friend's expense.

"Well, I'm gonna go get some shut eye. I've been up for like a week," Falco said easing out of the room with Katt right behind him, claiming he'd slept like a rock the whole way here. Fox was alone with Krystal once more. He felt really awkward at her last remark.

"Our foes look pretty tough. Think we'll be alright?" she asked.

"We'll be just fine. I'll make sure of it," he said overcoming his nervousness.

"Got a plan? Or are you just winging it?" she asked jokingly. Fox smiled.

"Of course I have a plan. Don't I always?" he said.

"No." she said smiling. Fox sent her a withering look. "But…" she said getting up, she got dangerously close to his ear before whispering, "I know you'll surprise me," she said winking at him before walking out of the room. Leaving Fox blushing like a madman.

Falco had decided to hit the fridge for something to eat before going off to bed. Katt had sat in the living room which was connected to the kitchen via countertop. She was watching the news when she heard Falco curse from the kitchen.

"They don't even have any decent food in here." He complained. He shut the refrigerator door to find Katt behind it. He jumped in surprise but relaxed seeing it was just her.

"Ya know…" she started. 'Here we go…' Falco thought. He _knew _she was looking for trouble. "By the way we've been acting, the others probably think we're together." She mused, a mischievous smile daunting her lips.

"Well we aren't," Falco said plainly. Suddenly she backed him into the fridge.

"So what should I say?" she asked.

"I don't know. Beneficial Friends?" he answered. An evil glint appeared in her eye.

"Hmmm. Sounds a lot like friends with benefits," she said purring. "Besides," she said putting her hands around his neck and bringing her lips to his ear. "That sounds a lot…" she got even closer so he could feel her hot breath on his ear. "_Hotter,_" she finished making Falco shiver. He put his arm around her waist keeping her pinned to him.

"You can put it how you like, I don't care," his lips dangerously close to hers.

"Somehow…" she said closing the distance, "I knew you wouldn't,"

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice came from behind them.

"Krystal!" Falco jumped pushing Katt away from him, much to her dismay. "No you're not interrupting anything! I was just gonna….go see what Fox was doing!" He said nervously. He must have forgotten Krystal was an empath. She was able to decipher that Falco was going to Fox because he _she _wasn't there. Falco inched past her and went back to the bridge leaving Krystal with a whining Katt.

"Umm forgive my rudeness, but is he your…"Krystal was cut off.

"Nope," Katt said blankly getting some milk out the fridge. "We're just _Beneficial Friends_."

Falco stumbled into the bridge to see Fox researching the film again. Fox lifted his head at him.

"Hey, I thought you were going to-"

"Scratch that," he cut him off. "I don't know if it's such a good idea to have Katt on the team." He stated. Fox sent him a questionable look.

"Huh? Why not? Both of you have known each other for a long time," Fox said.

"Not the point, dude. She's never been on a mercenary team before. She has no idea how we operate." Falco insisted.

"Hey, I've fought alongside her before. She's not too shabby. I think she'll be alright." Fox said. Falco had forgotten about that. He tried to think of another excuse but it seems Krystal isn't the only empath on the ship. "You're worried about her aren't you?" Fox teased. Falco's face went from blue to red almost instantly.

"P-Please! As if! You know me better than anyone, I only worry about myself!" he said trying to maintain whatever dignity he had left.

"You're right. I do know you better than anyone else. Enough to know you stutter when you're embarrassed. And you wouldn't have complained at all if you didn't care," he said smiling. Falco turned away. At least since she was paired with him he could keep an eye on her.

"Tch. Whatever," he said annoyed.

"At any rate…" Fox droned. "I don't know how we should proceed with this mission if there's no Intel on the two accomplices that weren't shown." Falco turned serious.

"Doing your homework?" he asked. Fox nodded.

"I had R.O.B access the Fortuna prison Doc and Samu were supposed to be incarcerated." Falco gave a look that said 'And?' Fox shook his head. "Nothing,"

"I guess the only logical reason would be one of them is a hacker." Fox nodded.

"We'll have to assume that," Fox face palmed. "And this Doc guy…."

"Sounded like he was the first one to hit the freighter," Falco said.

"Yeah, but how?" Fox questioned. "How can one man go to a military freighter without backup?" Falco put his hand to his chin.

"Maybe-," he was cut off by R.O.B.

"Incoming Transmission," he said. Fox and Falco were both shocked to see Wolf's face on the hologram.

"Yo, Mcloud! You gettin' me?" he asked. Fox got over the initial shock and responded.

"What the hell are you doing on my frequency? Of all people-," Wolf interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah save the speech hero I got a favor to ask," he said casually.

"And why the hell would we do you a favor?" Falco seethed.

"Hey I had your back against the Queen didn't I? And before that in Corneria City with big man Pepper. So don't act like I haven't scratched your back before," he retaliated. Fox thought about it.

"He's right," he said simply. Falco huffed. "What do you need?" he asked.

"A couple days ago we got a mission from some Officials on a planet called Klerta. Apparently a group of four…" he stopped once he saw their surprised faces. "What?"

"So we have the same mission, huh?" Wolf confirmed. The Starfox members nodded. "Well the favor I was gonna asked was for you to see if you can contact the Conerian Government to get some intel on two of the perpetrators." He said. "Their names are Eagle Smith and Raven Sanchez," he finished. Falco looked to Fox glad to see he kept his cool.

"Fox…" he said.

"Yeah, I know," Fox responded. He looked at Wolf. "Why only two? What about the other ones?" he asked.

"We already have the intel on them. Doc and Samu right?" Wolf responded. "All we found out about Eagle and Raven is that they were affiliated with the military," Fox and Falco laughed at their luck. "What the hell is so funny?"

"We're sending you the coordinates of The Great Fox," he said as R.O.B sent them. "Meet us as soon as you can and we'll discuss this further," Fox said. Wolf paused.

"Roger. Wolf, out," Wolf said as he disconnected.

…

Wolf's Team docked about 5 hours after the discussion. Katt and Krystal were in as much shock as Fox and Falco were in 5 hours prior. The first thing Fox noticed was the ships design had changed again. Presumably what he saw were _Wolfen III's. _Second, there were only two. It appeared Wolf had lost a member. Slippy had been briefed and were expecting them, but he still couldn't hide his surprise as the red and black ships docked.

"I hope you know what you're doing Fox," Krystal said worriedly. Fox flashed her one of his famous grins.

"Don't I always?" he saidmaking her blush for reasons unknown. Wolf and Panther hopped out of their ships and were greeted by StarFox via handshakes. "Where's Leon? Couldn't make it?" Falco asked. Leon and Falco were always rivals. Every time they had a run-n with StarWolf, Leon went out of his way to attack Falco.

"Something like that, he's dead." Wolf answered grimly.

"Sorry to hear that," Fox said.

"Why would you be?" Panther spat.

"Good question." Falco quipped. "To be honest I'm sort of relieved, one less pain-in-the-ass," Panther growled.

"You want pain?" Panther threatened coming face to face with Falco.

"Cut it off, both of you!"

"Cut it off, both of you!" Fox and Wolf yelled in unison.

"This isn't the time, Panther. You know as well as I do what became of Leon was his own doing. His blood thirst got out of control and he paid for it." Wolf consolidated.

"Falco, I know you're not easy to forgive but you have to move on. After all they're the reason we were able to save the system from the Aparoids. Without them we'd be dust," Fox reprimanded. Falco stepped back away from Panther.

"Let's just get this over with." Falco said. Fox ushered them to follow him to the bridge. Once they were in the hallway Fox spoke.

"I'm surprised mercs of your status were able to land a job like this," he said. Wolf chuckled.

"After the invasion was over word got out of how we helped you in Corneria City and how we saved your asses getting to the Queen. Employers started seeing us more than heroes than anything else. That's around the time Leon lost it, and had to be taken care of," he said. Fox knew Wolf had to finish his own teammate off. But thinking about it, he probably didn't have time for a nuisance like that anyway. The two captains kept chatting while Panther tried, and failed, at flirting with Krystal. Soon enough the reached the bridge.

"Alright, I'll cut to the chase," Fox said suddenly causing Wolf's ears to perk up. "You have intel on Doc and Samu, while we have intel on Eagle and Raven," Wolf looked surprised, but once he got over it he knew what came next. "I think we can help each other out," Fox finished. Wolf looked at him for awhile before laughing his dark laugh.

"Now I see what you two were laughing about," he said smiling. "We can exchange Intel, but we should contact the Military also," he said.

"Why should we?" Falco spoke up. "It's simple. You give us Intel, we give you Intel, done deal everybody's happy," Wolf smirked.

"Actually, Falco…" Katt started. "Doesn't it seem strange how we got the same missions from different governments _and _different info?" she asked.

"Obviously the Klerta Gov. didn't completely trust the Cornerians since two of the criminals originate from Corneria," Krystal explained. "Which means we'd have a much better chance analyzing all info from both sides before continuing." Falco conceded, as R.O.B was already dialing Peppy.

"Ah, Fox!" Peppy said. "Whaddya need?" he asked. Fox chuckled.

"Heh, you'll never guess who stopped by," on cue Wolf stepped into Peppy's view. Peppy almost had a heart attack.

"S-S-Star Wolf?" he said flabbergasted. "But why?" Wolf gave a lazy salute.

"Nice to see you again too, Mr. General," Wolf joked. "Allow me to explain…"

…

"I see…" Peppy concluded. "Well, let's hear it." Wolf held his hand out to Panther, who reluctantly gave him a disc. Wolf walked up to the console and put it in. a 3D image of a white and black Puma enlarged next to Peppy, who saw the model on his own console.

"This…is Doc. His real name was wiped away along with the records at Fortuna Prison. He was a demolitions expert, hired by some rich people on Katina time and time again. Other than that, he's just a punk that likes blowing shit up. According to the guards at the prison, he set the record of 'Fastest Time to be Unanimously Hated by the Population'. He'd start fights without throwing the first punch but always win, just by telling you something to make you angry. After awhile a riot started. And most the inmates wanted a piece of him.

"Apparently, that's where he met her," another 3D model appeared next to him; an all black jaguar. "Her name is Samu. She worked for the C.I.A as a master decoder, breaking down criminal firewalls leading to their arrest. One day she tried to use her skills to steal over a million dollars virtually, but got busted, and coincidentally thrown in Fortuna's Prison. She was pushed around most the time by the women, and disrespected by the men. When the riot broke out somebody pushed her to the center of a big circle where Doc was. They say he helped her up before the other inmates jumped him. While fighting them off he was only trying to protect her. She hated the gesture and started kicking a little ass herself. Ultimately, Doc ended up defeating _every_ inmate, but not without getting busted up himself." Falco interrupted.

"You mean to tell me that guy, kicked _that_ much ass?" he asked. Panther scoffed.

"Don't be impressed. Fortuna's got nothin' but softies. Katina is where the nasty ones are," he clarified. Wolf cleared his throat.

"Like I was saying, those two got real close that day. The guards say they developed a romantic relationship, but that's not the point. Point is they became associates. One day the both of busted out. All they had to do was knock out a couple guards, throw a thick carpet over the fence, and climb out. The strange part is, both their records were deleted that day, and even if they climbed the gate, how the hell did they disappear? The prison was located in a wasteland. Nobody could've survived without help." He concluded.

"Well we aren't mystery solvers. The only thing that matters is that they're our targets." Falco said. Fox agreed.

"He's right. Regardless how they did it they survived. Here's what we got on the other two," Fox told them the same thing Peppy told him about the two fugitives. Wolf's hand rested on his chin, thinking long and hard. After hearing both stories, it seemed Slippy had an epiphany.

"Guy! They're connected!" he exclaimed. Panther furrowed his non-existent brows.

"What are you talking about, frog?" Wolf put his hand to Panther's chest, silencing him.

"Go ahead, elaborate," Wolf encouraged. Slippy began typing on his console.

"There's no way anybody could survive the harsh conditions of Fortuna that the prison is in, right? But what if they had a ride?" he lectured. "Look, when cruisers crash into planets they don't explode until about thirty minutes after impact. The engines have to overheat. Eagle and Raven must have taken the last infantry ship before then. They could have possibly used the ship later on to pick those two up out of the wasteland!" he inquired.

"But…why?" Katt asked. The was silence before Fox broke it.

"Doesn't matter," Fox said. "We have to stop these people. If they can do that to a military base alone, then there's not mush they fear. If we don't stop them they'll just do it again and again, and even more people will get hurt," Fox had that look in his eye that made Falco and Wolf chuckle, but made Krystal swoon. "Wolf, can we count on you?" he asked. He and Panther looked at each other. Wolf sighed.

"Well, we probably couldn't stand a chance 2 on 6. And since we have different employers…" he trailed. Who would have thought he'd be saying this? "Fine. We got your back." Fox smiled.

"Well that settles it." He shook hands with Wolf sealing the deal. "Let's hunt some baddies."


	2. Brawl 'till You Fall

"Looks like we've attracted attention," Raven said in her sultry voice. She was lying on her stomach looking through the scope of a high caliber sniper rifle. It had been four days since the heist and things had been unnaturally quiet until now.

"It was inevitable. I guess Eagle made it pretty clear they can't match up to us alone, so it'd only make since for them to bring in a little help." Doc said looking through binoculars of his own. They watched as the Arwings and Wolfen soared through the air and prepared to land at the Klerta base. They had been keeping an eye on the base for a couple hours now and were to report any occurrences to Eagle, if any.

"Maybe, but I never expected them to call in Star Fox. And what the hell is Star Wolf doing here with them? I thought they were enemies!" Raven complained.

"I'm guessing that little show Eagle put on to strike fear into them may have worked a little better than he predicted. This definitely changes things," Doc said as he watched the ships land and the occupants hop out. "Don't shoot," he sighed.

"Why the hell not? We can end this little problem right here and now! I have them in my sights!" Raven was getting restless it seemed. Doc sighed again. Why Eagle insisted on pairing him up with this impatient woman he would never know.

"We can't afford to draw that much attention to ourselves. Killing them out in the open like this will do just that. Star Fox are heroes across the galaxy. No doubt every faction they've ever helped will come after us. We can't complete our mission with that much heat." Doc explained. Raven grumbled to herself. She knew that Doc wasn't just an explosive expert or an extremely skilled martial arts fighter, he was also a genius.

"Really wish Eagle were here right now instead of you," Doc raised an eyebrow. "He's much more fun than you," she said smirking. Doc fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"I don't wanna know how much 'fun' you two have when you're alone." He shuddered at the very thought. This woman was really working his nerves.

"Oh yeah? Well what kinda fun do you and Samu get to have when _you're_ alone?" she asked suggestively. Doc chuckled.

"Not the kind you have on missions," he said. "C'mon, we should report back. We've found all we're gonna find out today."

The combined Star Fox and Star Wolf teams were walking through the corridors of the Klertan Base, witnessing the damage first hand.

"You would think a small army had been through here," Krystal said. Falco agreed.

"No kidding. All this destruction by one guy? It's obvious we can't take him in a fist fight. We'll have to come up with a plan."

"Speak for yourself bird," Panther interjected. "Wait 'till I get a shot at this guy," Fox seemed amused by that statement.

"Ok, let's say you get your shot, then what?" He asked.

"Then I take him down. You two disappoint me. Letting yourselves be frightened by this coward." Panther engrossed. "Once we catch them it's over. Might as well pay me now," he directed his last statement to the canine leading them through the base, Commander Jones. He was a tall German Shepard that looked like he'd been to hell and back. He led the group to a room where they obviously did mission briefings.

"We have asked you to come here to apprehend these criminals any way you see fit. All we ask is that you bring them in alive so we may administer our own questioning. Should you succeed we will have a handsome payout of 500,000 credits each waiting for you. We are certain that these criminals have an ulterior motive behind the heist and have remained on-planet under orders from an unknown suspect," Commander Jones typed on a console with one hand and pictures of the four fugitives popped up. "As you know these are your targets. There is a nearby city called Tressan where they are likely to have a base of operations. They are also likely to have it somewhere in this vast jungle but we are unsure of either. They clean their trail pretty well. They are also pretty ruthless. I'm sure you've already seen the damage and injured personnel caused by the Eagle. You'll be on your own with leads. Understood?" The six mercenaries nodded. "You may begin, and thank you for your assistance," with that, Jones left the room. The Star teams both turned to take their leaves.

"What's the plan, Fox?" Falco asked.

"Looks like we have two places start our search," he started. "We should split up. two teams search the city for leads while the last search the forest."

"Falco and I should take the city, nobody knows the streets like us," Katt offered.

"That may have been true about Corneria, but this is a whole new planet. You sure?" Fox asked but was silenced by Falco.

"Eh, don't worry about it Fox, we can handle ourselves," he reassured. Fox nodded.

"Alright, Wolf and Panther, you two join them. We'll search the forest." He ordered. Panther was ready to protest but Wolf stopped him. "Alright, let's go!"

Eagle sat in a bar on the edge of town. They agreed it would be their rendezvous point for the time being. He took another sip of his alcohol as he waited. Not many people came to this bar. It was pretty rundown and didn't attract a lot of attention. Eagle was wearing a white jacket over a red shirt and black pants. His jacket was off however and the bartender kept staring at his right arm. Prosthetic arms weren't out of the ordinary, but one that didn't have a color based on the user's skin was. Eagle's arm was a shiny, dark grey metal, even though it should be brown like his body feather color. Samu plopped down next to him and ordered a drink. She was wearing a long sleeved purple V-neck sweater with tight black pants as well. She had a black leather jacket in her arms. Samu was shorter than the avian by about a foot, and wasn't the toughest girl around. She was kind and gentle for the most part. A rare attribute for criminals.

"They on their way?" She asked. Eagle nodded. They couldn't use their communicators because of the likely chance of it being intercepted. "Why group them together? Doc and I could've handled it just fine." She said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Their independent skill sets were ideal for this assignment. You're a pilot and hacker. There's nothing to fly or hack in a stakeout. Besides, Raven was key in this mission since she was a Cornerian spy at one time. If I had gone instead of Doc, she'd probably lose focus." He answered. Samu scoffed.

"Let's hope she hasn't lost focus anyway," she said jealously. Eagle chuckled.

Rave may be a little frisky, but she's pretty loyal too. That's why I trust her with so many things. And you know Doc; he probably hates me for assigning him this mission right now." Samu chuckled at that. Doc wasn't a ladies man in the slightest. He never went out of his way for one until Samu. So the ever-so-flirty Raven was working his nerves right now.

"Yeah, you're right." She sipped her drink. "You think they'll find something this time?" she asked.

"Unlikely. If the Klerta Government hasn't taken action yet, odds are they won't, and we'll proceed to the next target." He explained. "If they do, we'll have to decide whether or not to proceed on schedule,"

"What if Raven and Doc are found out?" Samu asked yet again. This time Eagle paused to think.

"We know they can both handle themselves, but Raven is the stealthiest and Doc is our overall MVP. If they're captured they'd probably be sent off-world and that would make rescuing them a hell of a lot harder," Eagle ranted. "Not to mention we'd fall behind on our schedule which would make-" he stopped because of a hand on his shoulder.

"You're overthinking again, dude." Doc said. He was out of his mission gear and into a black hoodie with white designs from top to bottom with a white t-shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans. Samu got up and hugged him and he placed a small kiss on her lips. "Hey babe," Raven came from over his right shoulder and snuck a kiss from Eagle.

"Glad you'd come rescue me no matter where I'm kept," she purred in his ear. She was wearing a designer tan jacket with a small t-shirt that exposed her stomach and tight black jeans. Doc sat next to Samu at the bar and Raven did the same to Eagle. Doc elaborated on their newfound info about Klerta hiring Star Fox and Star Wolf and their unification.

"This changes things," Eagle said. Doc chuckled.

"That's exactly what I said. I gave the order not to shoot. If we kill a Star Fox or Wolf member in the open, that's our ass. They have too many allies. We're gonna have to come up with a plan to keep them at bay," he said taking a sip of Samu's drink.

"Good call. Under no circumstances do we allow any kind of confrontation between us and them. We could handle just one team but with them together they have the advantage."

"If that's the plan we should get out of here," Samu stood as she spoke, and began to put on her jacket. "Chances are Tressan will be their first stop if they're looking for us."

Falco, Katt, Wolf, and Panther flew over Tressan. It wasn't nearly as big as Corneria City but it wasn't that small either. It would take some time if they were to search the entire city, but Falco insisted they didn't have to search the high-class or even middle-class portions of the city. Since none of the fugitives were from here, there wouldn't be any way for them to acquire the wealth for that type of living. He suggested they go to the lower regions, slums, shantytowns, etc. They landed their Arwing, Cat's Paw, and Wolfen on the edge of town and walked in. The streets were in bad condition. They could see homeless, thugs, gangs, you name it.

"Hey, Bird. We should split up." Wolf suggested. "We'd attract too much attention as a group. You two take that way and we'll go this way," Falco nodded and he and Katt walked off.

"Alright, Panther. We should hit these markets and as around. Maybe one of the locals saw em'." Wolf and Panther went into every shop they saw asking for information. They went into corner stores, barber shops, restaurants, everything. Soon enough they spotted a bar.

"Let's try there. I can use a drink anyway," Panther said tiredly. They walked into the bar. They weren't surprised to find that they didn't have a lot of business. The place didn't look inviting at all. The saw bums and midday drunks lounging around. They took a seat at the countertop and order a couple drinks. The bartender came and gave them their desired beverages.

"Hey, hold on a minute," Wolf said before he walked away. Have you seen these people?" he showed him the same pictures he'd shown everyone else. The bartender looked hard at the picture. Wolf was expecting the almost ceremonial "No, Sorry" but was surprised to hear…

"Definitely," he said. Wolf and Panther couldn't hide their shock.

"Wait, are you sure it was these people here?" Panther pointed to the fugitives. The bartender nodded.

"It'd be hard not to recognize that arm," referring to Eagle's prosthetic arm. "They came in a while ago. Ordered a few drinks, chatted. They left in a hurry though."

"Any idea where they could've gone?" Wolf asked now standing up.

"Excuse me!" a familiar voice called from the door. "I think I left my wallet here," Doc walked up to the bar. Wolf and Panther kept their cool and didn't make eye contact. Despite the fact they couldn't believe their luck.

"Yeah, actually I was hoping you'd come back. I have here behind the counter." The bartender said handing the puma his property.

"Thanks man you're a lifesaver, see ya," he said turning to leave. Once the door closed, Wolf slammed money down on the table and he and Panther began tailing him.

"Panther to team, we've located Doc and we're tailing now. Converge on my position but keep your distance." Panther said behind his hand. Doc walked casually through the streets, apparently unaware of his stalkers. He even greeted people with high fives, smiles, and handshakes. You never would have guessed he played a part in a heist four days prior. He turned down into an alley and eventually his followers did the same. Wolf and Panther were greeted with Doc leaning on a building with his arms crossed.

"So," he began. "How long were you gentlemen planning on following me?" he asked with a smirk. Wolf gave a smirk of his own.

"Well, we were hoping you'd meet up with your little friends and take you all down at once," he said stepping forward.

"Tough talk. None of us are that easy to kill," Doc countered.

"Everybody dies, child." Doc laughed at that one.

"Including you. I'm guessing you're here to arrest me right?"

"What makes you think we're that generous?" Doc laughed again. These people were hilarious to him.

"You're little stab at pragmatism is, well, adorable. But we both know there isn't much work for mercenaries nowadays, and the Klerta Gov. will only reward you for a live capture." Wolf gritted his teeth. This guy knew too much. "Are we really that threatening? So much that the infamous Star Wolf would have to team up with Star Fox?" Wolf and Panther exchanged looks. "Guess desperate times call for desperate measures." Doc continued taking his hoodie off to reveal his t-shirt. "And guess what? This is one of em'," Doc rushed forward. As Wolf and Panther tried to pull out their blasters, he quickly disarmed them with a punch and a kick. As their weapons flew out of their hands, Doc threw a punch at Wolf, which he quickly dodged. Panther threw a punch of his own, only to have it countered and receive a kick in the stomach. Panther doubled over for a split second while it was Wolf's turn to throw a punch. Doc dodged the punch and let his momentum aid him in flipping Wolf over his shoulder. Wolf managed to land on his feet while Panther, fully recovered from his kick, lunged at Doc in an attempt to grab him. Doc easily elbowed Panther in the jaw. Panther stumbled back and Doc hit him with a vicious roundhouse to the face. Panther did a spin in midair before landing on his face, unconscious. Wolf now had his undivided attention. Doc assumed a fighting stance and Wolf did the same. After a few seconds of an intense stare-down, they rushed each other.

If the alley did look trashed already, now it was utterly destroyed. The fight between Wolf and Doc had been a nasty one. Neither of them pulled any punches. But in the end Doc came out on top. He had Wolf pinned to the wall by his neck with his foot, holding Wolf off the ground. Wolf had been too tired and damaged to fight anymore.

"I'll give you this," Doc said panting. "You one hell of a fighter," he smiled. Doc had his own injuries also. The both looked like they'd been fighting for days. "You probably just gave me the best fight of my life." Wolf's vision was blurring, he could barely hear him.

"Freeze!" Doc turned to the new voice in the alley. It was none other than the Star Fox team all aiming their blasters at him. "Drop him," Doc cursed under his breath and did as he was told and put his hands up as he watched Wolf slide into a sitting position. Soon enough they had him in handcuffs and Panther and Wolf were receiving medical attention. The Tressan police were on the scene.

"Sorry sir, we cannot allow you to take custody of this fugitive at this moment," an officer said.

"Why the hell not?" Falco asked. The officer informed them he had orders had come in for them to take him to the Cornerian Space Station that was orbiting the planet now. Fox nodded, Wolf and Panther needed a bed anyway. He looked at Doc. It was obvious he had his poker face on. He let no emotion show whatsoever. Fox walked over to him and squatted down next to where he was sitting with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

"Where are the others?" he asked, his voice low. Doc raised an eyebrow.

"A little early for questioning isn't it?" he replied. "You're getting ahead of yourself. You only just subdued me. Aren't I supposed to be brought in, punched a few times, and yelled at first?" Fox grimaced.

"Is that what happened last time you were arrested? Before you were thrown into Fortuna?" he asked.

"Again with questions, huh?" Doc joked. "You talk as if we're friends or something. Like I'm not just some asshole whose name hit your desk. I'm nothing but a paycheck to you and you know it."

"Actually, I think you're pretty interesting," Fox admitted.

"Trying to sweet talk me won't work either, Mcloud. I'm a criminal remember?"

"I just want to know one thing. " Doc met his eyes. "How did you and your lady-friend escape from the prison? You two were the first in history to pull that off. It was considered inescapable." That caused Doc to chuckle a little before he saw the officers coming over, undoubtedly to take him away.

"It's still too early for questions, Mcloud. Besides, a good magician never reveals his secrets. But who knows? Maybe one day I'll let you know." He finished just as the officers reached him. They stood him up and walked him to the Prisoner Transfer Vehicle. Soon enough the vehicle had lifted off and was on its way to the space station.

"Something's not right." Fox said aloud. The medical vehicle that Wolf and Panther were in lifted off as well, with the same destination as the first. "Team, we're going to that space station too."

"You really think this'll work?" Raven asked Eagle. She, Eagle, and Samu had been watching Doc's incarceration from afar on top of a building. "Either Doc is a crazy bastard or he's a fucking genius," she said watching the ship blast off into space.

"I'd go with the latter on that one," Samu said. "The next target is on the Cornerian Space Station. This way while he'll already be there and we can bust him out, get the gem, and get gone. And the best part is Star Fox will stay here trying to find us. "

"Better guess again," Raven said gesturing back to the scene. Samu followed and gasped at what she saw. The Star Fox ships were following the others to the space station.

"Fuck!" she cursed. "What the hell do we now?" she asked.

"We deal," Eagle said calmly. "They'll complicate things. But Doc's plan should work regardless. I've known him since I was a child. He's never had a plan fail." He looked at his teammates reassuringly.

"Heh, you're right about that." Samu said dreamingly. "Hell, I owe my freedom to him."

"Hey now kitty, I'd love to see you pay him back for that one," Raven said suggestively. Eagle chuckle as he turned around and started to walk away. Raven followed.

"Forget it, pervert," Samu said with a smile as she followed as well.

**A/N: **And so concludes the second chapter. Sorry for the long wait, but that's what I get for posting in a non-ideal time of my life. Worry not. The next chapter is already in the works and nearly completed. In case you haven't noticed there are 4 OCs in this story. I didn't take into account that there needed to be a bad guy at the start of this fic. The characters you have witnessed and their personalities were made up on the spot. I'm a boss like that. Review and tell me your favorite. Because personally, Doc is mine.

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	3. Worthy Sacrifice

Doc had been sitting in the interrogation room for a couple hours. He had always been a patient man, but these cops were fucking clueless. It was like they had no idea what to ask him. He knew when one officer interrogated him, another would come in and ask the same exact questions.

It was fucking irritating.

He knew there were officers on the other side of the one-way mirror. Pretty damn cliché if you asked him. But since they were listening to his every word, why ask what you already knew the answer to? He was about ready to go to sleep in his chair if these cops couldn't ask something original for once.

Suddenly, Fox and Falco walked into the room. Doc looked genuinely surprised.

"Well, well," he began. "You gentlemen came all this way for me? I'm flattered." He said sarcastically. Neither mercenary said anything. They just stared at him, which began to bore him even more. Doc sighed. "And here I was hoping you would be more entertaining than the pigs behind that mirror," he was sure those cops were looking at each other wondering how he knew. Idiots. "If you aren't gonna ask me anything the make yourselves useful and get me a magazine or something. You people are more boring than prison."

"I think you know what we're after," Fox finally spoke. Doc sighed again. At least they said something.

"I do, actually," he met their eyes. "Do you?"

"Where's your hideout?" Falco asked. Doc actually hadn't been asked that question yet.

"What are you, twelve? This isn't a T.V show where the bad guys always have a secret hideout underground or in the slums. We don't have one. We only take what we can carry and operate by foot." He said. Fox was actually surprised he was answering.

"Who hired you?" Fox asked this time. "We know someone did. The gem you stole was highly classified, not just anyone knew about it."

"We stole a lot of diamonds from those freighters. We could care less about some classified gem that was in the pile." Doc replied.

"Nice try," Fox said with a smirk. "The other diamonds you stole were found in an alleyway down in Tressan. Everything accounted for besides the rare Gem of Solitude. Obviously, you stole the other diamonds to cover what you were really after, that Gem." Doc chuckled.

"I'm impressed." Doc admitted. "But to be honest I don't know who hired us. I was supposed to find out today as a matter of fact but your new friends interrupted me." Fox leaned onto the table with his arms.

"Are you lying to me, Doc? Because if you are-"

"I don't lie," Doc interrupted.

"Yeah right, like we'll believe that one," Falco said skeptically. Doc shrugged.

"I don't give a fuck whether you believe me or not. That sounds like a personal problem to me." Fox and Falco looked at each other. "I didn't become a criminal, you know. I was average, didn't bother anyone and no one bothered me. All of a sudden I come home to hundreds of illegal explosives and firearms in my apartment, and the cops had conveniently been called before I knew what the hell was going on. Ended up with a 25 year prison sentence, and a hell of a lot of questions. Someone's pulling strings, and I intend to find out who."

"That sounds like a personal problem to me," Falco said using his words against him. "But I wonder how you intend to find out who 'set you up' by stealing shit from the military,"

"Somehow, I think it's been **_for _**the military," Doc said. They both looked at him wide-eyed.

"What do you-" Fox was interrupted by a rumble of the ship. They both walked out of the room, carelessly keeping the door open. "What the hell happened?" Fox asked. Katt rushed up to them.

"They're saying an explosion went off on one of the sublevels!" she exclaimed. Fox cursed under his breath.

"Falco take Katt and help these guys out in any way you can. I'll stay here and keep an eye on-" Fox was interrupted by Doc jumping over his head with the help of Fox's forehead. "What the hell?!" he looked back to see two unconscious policemen who probably tried to move him after the explosion. His handcuffs and the key to them were lying on the floor. "Dammit!" he cursed again. "He planned to be caught!" The three Star Fox members gave chase. Doc expertly fought past the officers in his way and still managed to keep a lead on his pursuers. He clotheslined an officer pulling out his service blaster, roundhouse kicked another, and countered an officer's punch and threw him through a window. While running he saw a control panel for some security doors. He smashed the controls, making them start to close. A woman completely unaware of the situation at hand walked in the middle of the hallway carrying some documents. She saw him speeding towards him and screamed while throwing the papers in the air. Thinking quick, Doc slid between her legs, making her dress blow up from his wind. The last thing Star Fox saw was Doc holding two middle fingers as he slid backwards on his stomach through the doors as they closed.

"Shit!" Falco cursed. "This guy is really starting to get on my nerves,"

"Never mind that Falco, what about those explosions?" Katt asked worriedly.

"Calm down, babe. They were just decoys. This asshole must have his friends onboard or something." Falco responded.

"Not just that, they were precision timed." Fox explained. "Doc knew exactly what he was doing the moment he got caught. But, why? Why be arrested on purpose? To mess with us? Scare us or…"

"Wait, about the Gem they stole," Katt started.

"The Gem of Solitude, what about it?" Falco asked.

"There are more of those Gems! There were three to be exact, The Gems of Solitude, Tranquility, and Willpower! I remember reading about them on Fichina."

"But that still doesn't explain why he got himself arrested," Falco said annoyed.

"It's simple Falco," Fox said walking off. "One of those Gems are on this station."

"You three sure took your sweet time," Doc said at the rendezvous with his team. They were just getting off a merchant ship they stowed away on. Eagle tossed him a duffel bag with his gear and clothes.

"Have fun?" Raven asked him teasingly. Doc scoffed as he began to change.

"You kidding me?" He asked. "Cops are so boring nowadays. I'd have more fun watching paint dry," he opted. He looked at Eagle once he was in his proper attire. "Alright oh-fearless-leader, my plan to get us here worked. What's next?" he asked.

Eagle walked past him. "We've already detonated the small bombs we stashed a couple days ago, so the station should be in panic. Raven and Samu, it should be easy for you two to get to the Weapons Experimentation Room undetected. Doc and I will create a diversion, get moving." He said. The two ladies ran off and tore a vent off a wall before crawling through. "You and I need to get some attention," Just then, a bunch of officers and Station security guards ran in with their blasters trained on them yelling "Freeze". Doc and Eagle looked at each other and back to the officers.

"That was easy," Doc said amused. Immediately, Eagle pulled his own blaster out and fired while Doc did the same.

Krystal was busy helping the faculty aboard the space station put out the small fires caused by the bombs. She searched in vain for an engineer so she could learn the extent of the damage.

"Hey you!" she yelled finally catching one. "What's this station's status?" she asked him. He was a monkey of some kind.

"The bombs took out two of our engines, but we've still got two to go so we're stable," he said making Krystal sigh in relief.

"What about civilians? Any wounded?" She asked. The Cornerian Space Station was home to multiple fashions of commerce. It was a place where nations could buy, sell, and trade. It was also a place where scientist preferred to experiment and militaries did weapon some testing. Because of that, it had plenty of civilians from every nation walking around.

"None. We haven't gotten any reports of people getting hurt anywhere on the station," he said. Krystal looked at him confused but dismissed him anyway. It was peculiar indeed. Normally when bandits attacked a spacecraft, they'd take a few hostages and kill a couple of civilians to instill fear and show the cops they meant business. But these people did none of the above.

"Krystal," she heard her name through her communicator. "We believe the attackers are after a rare Gem that's onboard. I'm sending Katt ahead to meet you. I want you two to secure the Gem. Don't let these people get their hands on it. It's located in corridor G room 23 on the 3rd Level. Get there as quick as you can, Fox out," he ended.

"What about you and Falco?" she asked worriedly. Already knowing what he was going to say.

"We've regrouped with Wolf and Panther. We're going to proceed to hangar where the fugitives are already fighting Police and Security. We're going to give them a hand. Hopefully we can overwhelm them," he said. She knew it. Same old Fox rushing head first into battles like that. She was just frightened that one day, he wouldn't come back.

"Fox…" she knew it was useless to argue. He had been doing this since before they even met. He had saved the Lylat System without her even knowing. She sighed. "Just…"

"…Be careful, okay?" she asked quietly. Fox had already sensed her worry. He knew she didn't want him to go.

"I will, Krystal," he replied. He nodded to Katt, who took off in an effort to find Krystal and guard the Gem from enemy hands. "Let's go," he said to Falco, Wolf, and Panther. "If one guy was able to incapacitate you two then those cops won't last long." Fox said as they all took off running towards the hangar, with Wolf muttering something about him getting a lucky break.

"Level 3, Corridor G Room 23, huh?" Raven said to herself. She and Samu had overheard the conversation between Fox and Krystal. "Looks like we'll have a little competition when we get there too," she said smiling. Samu didn't like the sound of that. She could hack anything and fly anything. She wasn't much of a fighter.

"We'll deal with it. But I'm sure the door's security program will be heavily encrypted. I'll need a few second with it and we'll be good." Samu explained. She pressed a finger to the communicator in her ear as they continued to the room. "Doc, this is Samu."

"Fox, Falco, wolf and Panther are headed your way right now," she finished. Doc smirked as he punched the last officer, knocking him out.

"'Bout time." He said calmly. He looked at Eagle, who also had a number of cops at his feet. He nodded, letting him know they were on their way. He sighed at looked at the unconscious cops around him.

"We may have overdone it a bit," he said bored. He sighed again. "Oh, well. At least a primary objective has been completed. It's up to the ladies now."

"Yo, Fox! We're gonna need some kind of strategy to take these guys down." Wolf said while running. "Doc is too fast and Eagle may not be a pushover either." Fox's mind was racing for the best possible way to deal with this threat. Wolf and Panther only recently recovered from their fight with Doc, they had been at the station's first aid center for the majority of their time on the space station. Thankfully, all they needed was bed rest. The foursome turned a corner and saw a sign that indicated that the hangar was straight ahead. When they reached it, the doors swished open to reveal the backs of Doc and Eagle. Evidently, the swishing door caught their attention and their eyes settled on the four new additions to the room. Fox looked around the room. Every officer or security guard that responded was on the ground incapacitated. He looked at Eagle, who was just as tall as him. From the footage he expected him to stand much taller.

"Looks like we missed the party," Falco muttered. "I'm a little disappointed you two started without us."

"Apologies, we weren't aware you were invited," Eagle proclaimed. Doc chuckled a bit.

"How about we make it up to you," he said taking his fighting stance. Consequently, so did everyone else. "Welcome to the after-party,"

"The cat is too fast for us," Panther whispered. "Let Wolf and I take Eagle. We should be able to match his strength while you and the bird match Doc's speed." Fox nodded.

"It's a plan," he responded. Fox and Falco rushed Doc, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks his way. Doc was able to parry all of them and kick Fox I the chest, making him slide a couple feet back. However, Falco was able to land a punch to his face, making him stumble backwards.

Wolf and Panther rushed Eagle at the same time Fox and Falco rushed Doc. Wolf was the first to throw a punch, which Eagle dodged. Eagle threw a punch at Panther with his left arm after dodging Wolf, but was blocked. Wolf used the opportunity to punch Eagle in his ribs. Eagle retorted by punching Wolf in the chest with his mechanical arm, taking him off his feet. He grabbed Panther with the same arm and threw him opposite of Wolf.

Doc smirked, while Fox certainly had speed, he wasn't on Doc's level. However, with Falco here, every hole Fox had in his defenses were covered. Doc thought his one-on-one with Wolf was a fight on the playground compared to this.

"This is the place," Raven said from the vent. She kicked off the ventilation cover and hopped down gracefully. Samu followed, but fell to the ground. "You should work on that," she said smiling. She was fairly sure Samu was mentally flipping her off. The room had an ominous blue glow. The cause of which was the big blue diamond that was place at its center. The Gem sat on a technological platform that was, no doubt, used to experiment on it. "Look here, Samu," Raven got a grumble in response. "And you didn't even have to hack the security pad."

"Lucky me," Samu muttered. She looked at her surroundings. "…Damn," she said. She walked up to a computer console and started typing. "Looks like there's some kind of decryption key," she droned. "If I can reconfigure the algorithms of the operating system then I should be able to rewrite the programming long enough for…." Raven interrupted.

"Ok, Nerdy Professor, just do it before…" Suddenly the door swished open revealing Katt and Krystal, ordering them to stop. "Great…" Raven took a fighting stance.

"Cover me, I'll be done in a sec," Samu reassured, typing away. Raven rushed the two mercenaries with full force. Krystal, having trained with Fox for a while, was able to hold her own against the avian. Katt was faring a tad worse as she was subject to Ravens many kicks and punches. The fight was moved to the hall, much to Samu's pleasure. It was hard to concentrate with people fighting behind you. "Got it!" She exclaimed. She moved to the Gem and took it into her hands.

"Unauthorized Handler," the station's female voice droned. A medium sized bomb presented itself from a hidden compartment. "Cornerian Space Station will self-destruct in 10 minutes. Have a nice day." Samu's eyes grew wide. Gem in hand, she barged into the hall where Raven was still fighting the vixens. Upon seeing her with the Gem, Krystal made an attempt to stop her. Samu blocked a kick and held her foot.

"You two are heroes aren't you?! You have to evacuate this base! It's going to explode!"

Doc was still having a tough time with Fox and Falco. He was getting tired and Fox's kicks were nearly just as powerful as his own, while Falco had a nasty hook. Eagle was faring a tad better with Wolf and Panther, but it was obvious he was still losing. Doc was only able to beat them last time because of Panther's arrogance, he left his guard down and Doc knocked him clean out in one kick. But now he was aware of his mistake and was giving it his all. In addition, Wolf was one of the most ferocious fighters he'd ever met.

"Doc!" Samu's voice came through his communicator.

"Kinda busy, Angel," he said dodging a kick. He heard the urgency and worry in her voice. "What is it?"

"I triggered a trap. This base is going to blow up in 9 minutes!" she yelled. Doc didn't ask any questions. He deduced there was a 7% chance the Gem would have a booby trap set even if Samu hacked it. He cursed.

"We surrender!" he yelled to the mercenaries. They looked at each other confused. Even Eagle looked a little puzzled. "We have to evacuate this station right now. It's in self-destruct mode, it only has 9 minutes and counting." He explained calmly. He pressed his finger to his communicator. "Samu, you and Raven start leading people to the hangar, Eagle work with Star Fox and get people in escape pods." Fox was puzzled by this change in demeanor. "Eagle," Doc said. "It's time we told them," Eagle nodded and ran off to help evacuate. Fox looked at Doc.

"Told us what?" he asked. Doc smirked.

"Not the time, Mcloud. I need your team to help mine in evacuating this station. I'll be damned if I let these people die because of us. C'mon!"

Fox and his team helped evacuate the hundreds of civilians into escape pods. Now most of them had launched or were about to. Fox ushered Krystal, Katt, Falco, Wolf, and Panther in to the last escape pod. Unluckily they hadn't brought their Arwings or Wolfen. Eagle climbed into the pod with Raven and Samu. Fox looked back to see Doc not get in.

"What are you doing? Come on!" he yelled. Doc shook his head.

"Not this time. I'm gonna go see if I can disarm it. I'm a demolitions expert aren't I? Besides, we may have even missed someone. I'm not taking the risk." Doc announced. "I'll see you guys later. If I fail…then this is goodbye." He turned and was about to take off when he felt a hand grab his sleeve. It was Samu.

"I'm not leaving you," she declared.

"No, get out now, I'll see you…" she cut him off.

"It's not up for negotiation," she ran past him. Doc looked to Eagle.

"Good luck, my friend." He said. Doc nodded and launched their escape pod.

The eight passengers of the pod watched in suspense. The space station looked so peaceful, you'd never know its very existence hung in the balance.

"How long?" Eagle asked into his headset.

"About two minutes," Doc replied. "I think I've almost got it," he could hear him grunting in frustration. "Damn!" he cursed. "I cut a false wire." He sighed. Eagle was pretty sure he was sitting on his bottom now. "That's it. I can't even see the timer anymore. I couldn't stop it." Eagle's head sunk. Shortly, his best friend and teammate would lose their lives in a fiery explosion. "Eagle, listen to me. Finish this mission. Don't let our deaths deter your will. You're the strongest guy I know, and with the help of Star Fox you'll be unstoppable." Raven had let a few tears slip out as she covered her mouth in shock. Everyone else hung their heads awaiting the inevitable explosion. Eagle stood up and looked out the pod's rear window at the space station. The serenity it possessed was priceless. He stared on, hoping it would stay like that forever. His mind flashed back to his childhood. When Doc had been the weakest of every orphan in the orphanage. How he was constantly bullied until Eagle stuck up for him one day. Since then they had been like brothers. But now…

**_BOOM!_**

**_A/N:_** To be honest, I was tearing up towards the end of this chapter. Doc and Samu bit the dust. And Now Eagle got some 'splainin to do. I hope it wasn't too obvious that Eagle and Co. weren't actually villains. You'll find out more about that next chapter. I want this story to have that whole now-everything-comes-together- vibe so expect some flashbacks in the future. I'm praying the Veteran Readers/Writers don't already know what's gonna happen. But if you do, that's worth 90 cool points. Good for you.

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Ps. I caught wind of a Super Smash Bros. 4 at E3. What do you think that'll be called? And what if this bunch of OCs were in it? Fuckin' Sweet.


	4. Unexpected Partnership

Fox paced back and forth on the bridge of the Great Fox. They had placed Eagle and Raven in the brig and were now meeting to decide their fates.

"We should at least hear what they have to say," Krystal said. Panther huffed, disapprovingly.

"What for? We should take em' in and collect our credits." Wolf argued. "Two outta four ain't bad,"

"What for? In case you didn't notice, they saved hundreds of lives on that space station!" Katt yelled.

"In case _you _haven't noticed, they put those lives in danger in the first place," Panther chastised. "We can't allow them to just walk free after everything they've done."

"Attacking us, the police and security guards on the station, the militia at the Klerta base, and stealing the Gems," Falco listed. "Even so, it sounded like there was a reason behind it. We let them explain."

"That commander guy said 500,000cR each! Are you telling me you'd throw away 2 million credits for nothing?" Panther asked.

"It isn't for nothing," Fox said looking out the big window on the bridge and out into the endless space. "Besides no one said anything about letting them walk. We find out their motives, and then decide what to do,"

"You getting soft on me, Fox," Wolf said. "Their motives don't matter. What matters is the payout. There hasn't been much work in the Lylat so we'd be fools to turn this away." Fox turned around and looked at the five of them.

"Two of them died trying to save the station just in case one or two people were left behind. I don't believe that they're as ruthless as Commander Jones implied." Fox said.

"Even though Doc did kick both your asses," Falco snickered. He received glares from both Wolf and Panther.

"Something's going on, and we're going to find out," Fox said walking past them on his way to the brig.

"Ya know, this is probably the cleanest jail I've ever been in." Raven commented. For a brig, it was very well kept. It was a luxury room compared to some other jails. "Are you sure about this, Eagle? About trusting the ones hired to catch us?" Eagle nodded once. "Got a back-up plan?" He nodded again. "Good, I refuse to be handed over to those bastards," she said pacing around. Eagle sat on a bench with his head down, not really up for conversation. Raven picked up on his distress. It wasn't often, well actually she'd never, she saw him like this. He was usually confident and well composed, that's the Eagle Raven knew. Not the man sitting down feeling sorry for himself. She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'll miss them too," she said. "But sitting here moping isn't going to change anything. I say if we can't bring them back, let's send them some company," she smiled. Eagle looked up at her.

"You know, comforting doesn't really suit you," he said. Raven smiled mischievously.

"Tell me, Eagle," she said closing in on him until their lips were. "Have you ever had sex in a jail cell?" his eyebrows shot up, clearly not expecting that.

"There's a first time for everything," he said. _That's_ the Eagle she knew. She pressed her lips to his, hungrily. Although they weren't in an ideal place, or at an ideal time for something like this, he kissed her back anyway. Without breaking the kiss, she reached for the hem of her shirt, attempting to take it off. Eagle stopped her. "Not yet," he said. He lowered her shirt and stood up, facing the cell doors. Just then the conjoined Star Fox and Star Wolf teams came into sight.

_Damn, he's good_. Raven thought. Fox stood in front of the group with his arms crossed.

"Hey, Eagle," Fox said. "Start explaining,"

"Klerta, as you know isn't a well-known planet. They don't have much respect on the Council, and they sure as hell don't have respect from other planets." Eagle explained.

"I said start explaining, I didn't ask for a lesson in politics." Fox said. "Three Gems. The Gems of Solitude, Tranquility, and Willpower. You stole Solitude and Tranquility, no doubt you were gonna go for Willpower next. Who hired you?" Eagle's face remained stoic.

"Hmm. You may be hungry for information, but show some patience. I was getting to that." He said simply. "As you said, our job was to steal these three Gems for our employer. But he wouldn't tell us why. I did the research, and found out that the gems are actually mystic artifacts," he explained.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Wolf asked.

"Alone, the gems are powerless. But when you gather all three of them, according to our ancestors, you can bestow unlimited power into anything and anyone," Eagle said.

"That's very helpful and all, but you still didn't answer the question." Falco said.

"The one about the slob who hired us?" Raven spoke up. "I thought it'd be obvious. Who hired you?" she asked.

"An officer in the Klertan military." Katt said. Raven gave her a look. "Wait…" The group looked at her. "You said Klerta didn't have any respect from the Council or any other planets, right?" Eagle nodded.

"So they hired you four to steal these gems so they can make their military more powerful," Krystal said.

"Exactly," Eagle said.

"So we've been played, huh?" Panther asked. "They want fear to get them respect, but how would they do it? You can't just tell people how strong you are, you have to show them,"

"And what better way to show them by destroying one of the strongest militaries in the Lylat?" Eagle asked rhetorically.

"So they planned to destroy Corneria after they juiced up their military, huh?" Fox asked mostly to himself.

"Bingo." Eagle said. "They already have the Gem of Willpower. It was our next target. We've hidden the Gem of Solitude in Tressan and you guys should have Tranquility. They were most likely going to kill you the moment you handed us in." Falco went wide-eyed.

"Shit!" he cursed. I gave the Tranquility to a Klertan officer before we docked! If they find the one in Tressan we're screwed!"

"Nice going, bird-brain," Panther said. Falco glared at him.

"Yeah, like you would've known better!" he yelled. Fox hushed them.

"So if you were trying to stop them this whole time, why didn't you tell us from the beginning? It could have saved your friend's life," Fox questioned.

"They were watching. They were always watching. Doc needed a way to get aboard the station, and we needed to keep up appearances. If the Klerta security cameras or the cameras aboard the station would have saw us trying to explain to you, they would have known you were onto them. Our only choice was to play the bad guys." Eagle explained. "It's obvious since they hired you to catch us, they don't know we know about their plans, must think we plan to use the gems ourselves,"

"And what would you have done with the gems had your mission succeeded?" Krystal asked.

"Like I said we hid Solitude in Tressan, right under their noses. Doc and Samu were to take Willpower out-system and stash it on a remote planet. Raven and I were to do the same, but in the other direction. We had plans to meet at a café in a tropical city on Corneria a few months later." Eagle explained. "But not anymore…"

"If the blue bird says they have Tranquility now that make 2 outta 3," Raven pointed out. "We need to move,"

"And what says we let you out of this cell? We haven't done our own investigating to see if you're telling the truth," Wolf said.

"Your gut. You can use us and you know that. "Eagle said.

"He's right. The longer Klerta has those gems, the more danger Corneria is in," Fox pressed the pad on the cell door, making the bars slide into the floor. Eagle stepped out.

"Thank you. We should head to Tressan. We have a weapons cache there, and we can also recover Solitude." He said.

"Good idea, let's go," Fox said turning away and walking. Eagle and Raven got a few weird looks from Panther and Wolf, and surprising a smile from Katt and Krystal, before they followed Fox to the bridge.

**_Flashback_**

**_Eagle looked at him. He was way too calm about this. It had been a years since they first met on the playground. They were now seniors in high school, and Eagle was about to go into the military. And in those years Eagle noticed Doc only got more clever in his attempts to steal from his bullies. But now…_**

**_Doc had found the man who killed his mother and made him an orphan in the first place. Upon discovering this, rage curled up inside him. For he had found them man who was at fault that he never knew anything about her. And never would. _**

**_The man hadn't stopped with his mother. He was a serial killer. He claimed more and more victims each month, and the police couldn't catch him to save their lives. Or in this case everyone else's. Intent on stopping him, Doc hatched a plan. No matter how many times Eagle asked to help him, Doc told him not to, that he need to do this himself._**

**_One late night, Doc lured him in. He was walking alone and kept getting the feeling someone was following him. Satisfied, he walked down an alley where he was sure to strike. As if on cue the man ran after him with full force, already relishing the feeling of his knife cutting the puma to pieces. Doc just stood there. When the killer reached him, he ducked out of the way of his knife and punched him in the gut. The killer dropped, sadistically smiling, and came back at him. He swung and swung, only for Doc to dodge his every swing. Suddenly, Eagle appeared at the entrance to the alley._**

**_"Doc, what the hell are you doing out here? I've been looking everywhere," he said frustrated. One look at the scene and he understood exactly what was going on._**

**_"Ah, nothing. Just found a new friend to play with." He said casually. The killer seemed too excited._**

**_"Oh goody goody! Tonight I'll get to take apart two zombies instead of one!" he yelled insanely. He charged Eagle this time, who punched him in the face. He stumbled backwards before laughing. He continued this little game of his. He kept rushing them with the knife only to fail and continue to laugh insanely._**

**_Then they heard them. Police sirens blaring in the distance. The lights could be seen closing in._**

**_"Too bad, zombies. I was really looking forward to carving you." He laughed again. "But I guess this'll have to do!" he opened his trench coat to reveal a device. They couldn't tell if it was a bomb or not. "Die!" he screamed as he activated it._**

**_"Eagle get down!" Doc yelled as they both of them dived away from him. The man exploded in a blue explosion._**

**_After the blast, Eagle was the first to get up. He looked down and helped Doc to his feet .They looked back at the man. He was nowhere in sight._**

**_"Looks like it disintegrated him," Doc said. Eagle looked at him. "You hungry? I passed a nice café on the way here," he said._**

**_He was way too calm about this._**

**_"What are we going to do about the cops?" he asked. Doc scrunched his nose in thought._**

**_"Don't worry, the cops love me,"_**

**_The policeman punched him in the stomach before him and his partner threw him back in the chair._**

**_"Damn …Tryin to kill me!" Doc said tiredly._**

**_The officer punched Eagle in the face._**

**_"Tell me where you hid the body!" he said before punching him again._**

**_"Charlie you might want to cover your ears this is some nasty shit." Doc said taking a breath. The officer scoffed._**

**_"Alright, alright, I'll tell you." Eagle said. The officers sat him down. "From 11 pm to about 2 am last night…_**

**_"…I was banging that pretty little wife of yours how about that?" They punched him again._**

**_Eagle ate another punch and laughed a little to himself. "She wasn't good the first time," he stated as an after fact. Punch._**

**_After they were released (aka thrown into the hallway) they met at the counter to get their stuff back. Doc slapped the counter. "Yo, let me get my property!" He yelled to whoever was in the back._**

**_"They love you, huh?" Eagle said grabbing his jaw. Doc laughed a little._**

**_"Looks like they love you too now," he said._**

**_"Yeah, whatever. Did you say something to them?" Eagle asked. Doc nodded._**

**_"Hell yeah, I did," he said. Eagle looked at him surprised._**

**_"What did you say?"_**

**_"I told him I was banging his wife," he said with a smile. The both laughed loudly._**

**_"I did too," he said making them laugh even harder._**

Short Chapter. I wanted to thank everyone for the reviews. I started this story as an experiment, wanting to get used to writing fan fiction. (I refused to put "First Story so be nice!" or some shit like that in the summary.) Don't think I'm quite ready to start writing canon yet, but at the same time I don't like taking it easy. So if you're a Naruto fan, stay tuned for my next story. It's so big I'm kinda scared of it. (That's what she said.) By the time I write a new Star Fox story, it WILL be canon.

**_Bryanmcloud_**: lol…I would say your OCs were more of a comical group of OCs than criminals for hire.

They love to joke and humor so much, I think if they were criminals they would have taken this much more seriously.

In doc's case he never takes things too seriously and that's his main flaw. A genius will always make mistakes by not thinking what are all the possibilities that could happen.

I wonder if peppy knew about the gems and is after them himself for the military?

_Killionaire_: Meh. I thought the fact that they joked around so much would let you know how experienced they are and how comfortable they are at what they're doing. Doing the damage they did, while not even being dead serious about, speaks for itself in my opinion. Besides, now you know they weren't really criminals, huh?

Thanks for your review, I loved to hear about your opinion considering Doc. Hope to hear from you again.

**_MaverickBently_**: I think it's perfect the way it is.

Unlike bryanmcloud I like the fact that they're comical in these times. It makes them real. Keep going exactly how it is.

_Killionaire_: Aww 3. Appreciate it, man I'm happy you got what I was going for with the comedy.


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